Struggle in Iran, Again

pen4hire — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:07:29 +0000

Note: Because I stayed up past midnight last night following the current battles in the streets of Tehran, I decided to put on hold my planned post for today, and instead return to a book I read a few years ago. It is important that we think of Iran today.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Destination: Tehran

Book: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

We may not be able to safely travel to Iran for quite some time. Most of us have a rather vague idea of what life in Iran has been like since the Islamic revolution. Because we ache for the Iranians who struggle today, we can read (or re-read) [amazonify]0812979303::text::::Reading Lolita in Tehran [/amazonify]to get an idea of what life would have been like before and during the Islamic revolution in Iran.

If you missed this book the first time around, now is a perfect time to return to its account of two years during which Nafisi led a group of young women in discussions of Western books. You will never see Henry James, Jane Austin and Vladimir Nabokov in quite the same light.

Nafisi’s web site also provides a good source for video clips that shed light on real life in today’s Iran, as well. For example, in October last year, the BBC made these podcasts called Children of the Revolution that focus on the youth of Iran. They help foretell what is going on in Iran today.

I hope you will join me in thinking about Iran and in trying to find out the truth about what is happening there this week.

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Struggle in Iran, Again